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Omaha Hosts Online PTSD Treament for Veterans Pilot

Veterans in the Omaha, Neb., area will have access to a new form of online PTSD treatment under a pilot program led by Creighton University and the University of Nebraska, the Omaha World-Journal reports.

Veterans in the Omaha, Neb., area will have access to a new form of online treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) under a pilot program led by Creighton University and the University of Nebraska, the Omaha World-Herald reports.

The computer-based treatment is called ABMT (attention bias modification treatment) and uses online-based activities to help someone suffering from PTSD avoid perceiving everyday situations as dangerous, according to the newspaper.

At least 60 Omaha veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will participate in the pilot study, which will involve participants coming to the University of Nebraska's Medical Center for monitoring as they complete the treatment.

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ABMT is envisioned as a "low-stress and low-cost" form of treatment, according to the World -Herald. According to a Congressional Budget Office report earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs spent on average nearly $6,000 more for care of sufferers of PTSD than for those without it in fiscal year 2010.

If rolled out on a national scale, ABMT would allow veterans to partake in PTSD treatment anonymously and in their home, according to the World-Herald. RAND Corporation, an independent research service, estimated in 2010 that 300,000 war veterans suffered from PTSD or major depression.

The Robert B. Daughtery Charitable Foundation and At Ease, a non-profit organization focused on PTSD, are splitting the $100,000 bill for the pilot program, according to the newspaper.